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 Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:58 pm
 Mfuto was aware that he had changed. Usually subtle changes slipped by unnoticed by him, as he wasn't of an especially observant sort. But Mfuto knew... he knew the way his friends looked at him, he knew from the way the great wide world seemed just a little smaller, and he especially knew from the way he'd gotten all big and fluffy like... well... like Uten had been.
Mfuto knew he was an adult now.
But he wasn't sure what that meant, or what he was supposed to do now. All he could think to do was to continue to stick by Alana and Heu as he'd done through his adolesence... but he'd moved past his melencholy and now staying in one place, secluded, was making him feel restless. He had finally started to miss the days when he wandered the world freely, seeing new sights, meeting new people and making new friends.
At the moment he lay in a clearing, draped glumly over a log and staring at a stream, in the hopes that maybe a little fish or frog might swim up and be his new friend. Fish, however, weren't especially chatty. They were so delicious, though, that Mfuto figured if they learned to talk they'd be the world's most perfect animal.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:13 pm
Mwokoti couldn't stress enough how much she hated this place. Sure, the mass of trees, vines, plants were pretty to look at it. But there had been one too many times she'd snagged her wings on one of those things and after the loss of at least a good hundred feathers they weren't so visually appealing anymore.
At this point, she had them folded back so far, if one saw her from a certain angle they might assume she was an over-sized mortal lioness. One giant paw stepped into the stream, the other lingering above it for a time, until with a 'spalsh!' it swung downward and knocked a flopping fish onto the shore.
If she'd noticed the mortal--which she probably had--she paid him no heed, moving to her catch and devouring it in a single snap of her jaws.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:55 pm
Where Mwokoti decided to overlook Mfuto's presence, the calico lion couldn't help but notice her. She was, after all, huge... even bigger than Mfuto himself, and he was full grown now. Curious, he stirred a bit and watched her fish, wondering if he should say anything or leave her alone. After all, she had yet to say anything to him and he was right here...
...maybe she was blind.
...if that was true, she fished awfully well for being blind.
Mfuto furrowed his brow. This was strange indeed.
And then he noticed the tattered wings folded tight against her back and alit. A goddess! Well, this was exciting. This would be the second goddess he'd met in this jungle... and since the first had been so kind to him, Mfuto expected much the same from this one. "Hallo!" he cried out, his speech impediment seeming oddly pronounced over his now much deeper voice. "Is you related to Missus Mattie-ma?" Of course, she'd probably have no idea he was talking about Mtima'safi, and perhaps had never even met her, but this did not occur to Mfuto. He didn't think of these things.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:55 pm
Friendly? No, that wasn't Mwokoti. She wasn't cruel, either, especially not to mortals. Her domain was one centered souly around assisting them. If she was the high-and-mighty type of God that hated them just for being them, her life would be more difficult than it already was.
On this day, though, she was grumpy. Luckily, strictly based on her personality and not her status as a Goddess or her domain, Mwokoti was one to linger on things inwardly, in her mind, and not lash out those around. Even if they were annoying, and he certainly had proven he was already.
"I'm related to no one." Which was generally true. Her son, also a mortal (or half-mortal, if you wanted to grind the details), wasn't aware of her as his parent.
On the bright side, she could take comfort in knowing he wasn't lost and needed her to drag him somewhere, that he wasn't going to spaz she was a Goddess, deny she exsisted, accused her of being a slave (the most recent event), or a number of other thing she just reallyreallyreally wasn't up for.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:51 pm
Her response was so curt and to-the-point that it almost surprised Mufto. He drew his ears back and frowned. "Oh." How sad. Mfuto felt that everyone should have family. Maybe that was why she was in a bad mood?
Although, to be fair, Mfuto didn't have family either. He just made his own family up as he went along. So he brightened, and he announced cheerfully to the goddess, "Wull, thass okay, 'cause I isn't related to no one neither. My parents is dead." The matter-of-fact way in which he stated this might be jarring to some, but it didn't bother Mfuto at all. He'd gotten quite used to the concept.
He sat for a moment there, sitting on his log and smiling blankly across the stream at the goddess, and was content for a while with just the company. After some time, though, he abruptly interjected into the nothingness, "Say, does you want to be mah friend?" His expression was hopeful, for even after the hardship of his adolesence, Mfuto still saw every soul in the world as a potential friend. In this manner Mfuto was utterly unflappable.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:32 pm
Mwokoti was not one of 'some'. Things like that no longer phased her. It was almost eerie how numb she'd become to everything around her. But, really, anyone would be if they'd been around as long as she had, to as many places as she had. She'd witnessed the tragedy that was often mortal lives, and some things that mortals outside the scenarios wouldn't believe if they didn't see it.
"I'm sorry," she offered, but it was automatic. Really, she didn't feel anything for those involved with the 'tragedies' anymore than she did for the tragedies themselves.
Interestingly enough, it was the question that seemed to shake her. "W-What?" In all her life, and in all her other lives, since she'd been reborn a few times now, no one had ever asked such a... blunt and strange question. "I..."
What to do, what to do?
"I do not make bonds with mortals," she concluded.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:09 pm
Mfuto smiled cheerfully in response to Mwokoti's empty sympathy. He was naive, he'd always been naive, so to him it was the same as if she'd been utterly sincere, and it struck his heart the same. But he just shook his head and said. "Nonono, is okay. I's doin' jus' fine withouts 'em," he declared. And it was true, too. Save for a few scars and being slightly on the small side, he'd grown to be a rather handsome lion.
But he, too, was taken aback by her surprise. He scooched back a bit, eyes wide, and cocked his head to the side, watching her try to sort herself out. Though confused, he waited patiently until she finally blurted out her last statement.
Mfuto frowned a bit, and yet still didn't seem too daunted. He straightened himself out and came back to the stream's edge, saying, "Wull thass too bads," he said. "Cuz... cuz... there doesn't seems to be too many gods an' goddesseses... an' there is a lot of nice mortals 'round. An'... an'... life gets awful lonelies without friends." He nodded once, to emphasize the point, then abruptly shoved his head into the water for a drink. He was thirsty... why shouldn't he drink?
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:25 pm
The Goddess observed him with more of a thought than she'd paid to a mortal in a long time. He spoke very oddly. It was almost... dare she say 'cute'.
The logic made sense to her, but she had her own reasons. They just died far too early. Getting attached to any of them, being a 'higher power' that lived forever, was just asking for it. It only took one burn to learn that.
"Yes, that's true," she agreed. She was very much alone, and it wasn't pleasent. "Are you out here by yourself?" She couldn't fathom one so...social being completely by himself.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:52 pm
Mfuto's head was down in the water the whole time she spoke, but he listened to her closely. It would be rude not to listen to one's company, after all, and Mfuto was very concerned with being polite. Once he'd finally drunk his fill, his head sprung up, water flying off his face and his half soaked mane, spraying the air. He gasped a little, taking in the breath he hadn't been breathing, and then returned to his usual cheery state. "Nu uh!" he declared. "I lives out here with mah friends Alana an' Heu." He nodded eagerly. "I helps Alana with lookin' out for Heu an' stuffs. I's the baby-sitter." At this declaration, he held his head up proudly, pleased with his position. He then looked to her with a bit of sympathetic curiosity. "Is you alone? You looks a li'l lonelies."
And that's when he realized. "OH YEAH!" he cried out, very abruptly. He puffed out his chest with exaggerated pride, just the way he'd learned as a cub from the serval, and declared, "I is Mfuto! Is nice to meet you!" He bowed clumsily, then rose. He couldn't believe they'd spoken all this time without him even having to introduce himself.
Clearly they were getting along great. At least, that's what Mfuto believed.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:02 pm
"I see." That was good. At least he wasn't alone. She hoped whoever these mentioned names were, they'd learn to keep better track of him, because his outgoing ways might get him hurt by someone different than her. Most Gods were different than her, too.
She opted not to answer his question, and jumped a little out his outburst, ears pinning back out of instinct. Goodness he was loud! Her posture returned to the normal stance, and she nodded. "Mwokoti. Nice to meet you, also."
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:38 am
The calico lion couldn't help but frown a little, and drooped like a wilting flower. This goddess before him, she seemed so... sad. Or at least, that's how it seemed to Mfuto. Having recently been through a major depression himself, Mfuto knew just how bad sadness could get, and wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone. "You knows," he began quietly, still trying to solidify the thoughts in his head as he spoke. "If you doesn't likes ter make friends with mortals... than maybe you should meets mah friend Missus Mattiema." He brightened a little, his idea having just struck him as he spoke it. "YEAH! 'Cause... 'cause... she's a goddess too, an'... an'... she's super nice... an'... an'... I bets she'd loves to be yer friend." He positively beamed at his own brilliance. Not that he'd actually be able to find M'tima at this point or anything, but... he still loved his own idea.
Completely oblivious to the goddess' near-horror at his volume-level, Mfuto smiled chipperly at her return introduction. "You has a pretty name too, Missus Mowokety." The poor rogue seemed to have a running problem with pronouncing goddess' names.
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:02 pm
Honestly, Mwokoti didn't tend to favor other Gods, either. It was true she shared their lifespan, but they had other qualities that barred her from liking them. The urge to slaughter needlessly, superiority complexes, to name a few.
The name didn't register as known to her. Very few did. For ones like hger, she tended to remember them more for their domains than their names. "She's the Goddess of what?"
The name thing didn't bother her. She nodded a thanks to the compliment.
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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:39 pm
Mfuto furrowed his brow, disappointed yet further. She still didn't seem too happy. And he'd thought he'd had such a great idea.
...but she was asking questions. And as long as she was asking questions, that meant they were getting somewhere. Mfuto wasn't licked yet, and he wasn't about to give up. He'd learned his lesson about giving up.
And yet... he didn't quite know how to answer her question. The bewilderment was spelled out all over his face. "Goddess of...?" he questioned, trailing off at the end. He'd been previously unaware that Goddesses had domains. Then again, he hadn't even known what Gods and Goddesses were until he'd met Mtima'Safi. Well, he'd have to guess, otherwise Mwokoti might lose interest. "Uh... um... wull... I dunno realleh... she saids she was a guardian sorta, an'... an' she talked a lots 'bout summin' called a 'soul'..." He paused a moment. "Maybes she was The Goddess o' Souls?" He had no idea how right he was.
He took pause a moment there, deciding to let go of his confusion, then looked to the goddess with his bright innocent eyes and asked her, "What is you the goddess of?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 9:57 pm
Goddess of Souls? Mwokoti knew no such lioness. She really didn't have an urge to know her, either. Anyone who trudged around this jungle willingly was insane. You hardly fly without running into something or crashing or a number of other things.
"Goddess of the Lost," she recited in an informative tone. Usually, mortals knew that right of that bat, since they were the one who unknowingly summoned her to begin with.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:41 pm
For a moment, Mfuto just stared, his reaction indiscernable. And then, suddenly, he gasped. "GODDESS O' THA LOST!? REALLIES!" He took a second to gear himself up, then leapt over the little stream and bounded over to the goddess. "WOW! WOW WOW WOW! Goddess o' tha Lost! Tha's so awesomes! Wooooooowwww!" He leapt and scurried around her in circles, studying her up and down, admiring. "Wow! Wow! So... so you getses peoples un-losteded, huh!? I bet you doed! Tha's what you does right!? What kindsa magic trickses does you use to un-losted peoples!? Huh? Huh huh huh? DOES YOU USES THAT LAMP!?" He pointed at the lantern that hung from her neck briefly before returning to running in circles. "Yeah! I bets you does! Is it a magic lamp!? I bets it is! Wowwwwww! Does you maybe carries peoples home on yer back 'cause you got real big wings and I bets you can flies real good!? Huh? Yeah, I bet! Woooooow..."
For a moment he paused in his running and babbling, and it may have seemed that he had finally stopped... but honestly, he was just stopping to catch his breath. Then the verbal onslaught resumed. "I coulda useded yer help a while back 'cause... 'cause... when I was little, when I was a cub, I got losteded from mah bestest bestest friend for a while... but, is okay, 'cause I gots myself un-losteded after a while... an'... an'... he isn't mah bestest bestest friend anymore, but tha's okay too, 'cause... I gots new bestest friends, an', an', I's makin' new friends all the time..."
And so on. Once Mfuto got excited about something, it was awfully hard to get him to shut up.
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